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NOW ABOUT COURTINGDating and courting rituals in the American west during 1870 varied greatly depending on the particular community involved. San Francisco, despite its wild growth during the gold rush years had developed a core of decent citizens with strong family units. Among those citizens courting was a formal, highly chaperoned process. Parents had a great deal of say in where their daughters went and who could escort them. Rides both in carriages and on horseback in the countryside were possible. Night time forays into the Barbary Coast were not.

Yet that’s what happens to Dutch and Edith of One Moment’s pleasure. Edith is a stranger to San Francisco and without friends or family in the city. Dutch, whose protective instincts are roused, tries to convince her that going out on her own at night is a bad idea, so he takes her on horseback to the worst sections of the Barbary Coast. Lucky for them both they are able to return home without being assaulted (although Dutch does have to rescue some kittens before Edith is convinced he’s right).

Between the settled communities in the mid-west and San Francisco lay vast tracts of ‘unsettled’ territory. The coming of the railroad would change all of that, but in 1870 the transcontinental railway was just beginning to exert its influence. A woman alone in the wilderness had to set her own courtship rules. In One Night’s Desire, Kiera Alden is the one who seduces upright preacher’s kid Marshal Evrett Quinn. She uses a small injury and a healing hot spring to get the job done. Of course, Ev was already half in love with her, or he never would have yielded to temptation. Good thing he did or their story might have ended very differently.

SCAVENGER HUNT QUESTION:Which couple had a date in the Barbary Coast district of San Francisco and which couple courted in a hotspring?

If you’d like to know more about One Moment’s Pleasure ~ Wildfire Love # 1 andOne Night’s Desire ~ Wildfire Love # 2here are blurbs for each followed by excerpt links.

One Moment’s Pleasure Blurb:

One Moment’s Pleasure will become a lifetime’s passion when spinster, Edith Alden, embarks on a search for her missing sister. Pretending to be a rich bored woman looking for an interlude with an anonymous male Edith enters the San Francisco bordello where her sister was last seen. She escapes the bordello almost too easily, but she can’t escape the passion ignited by a stranger’s kiss.

Born and raised in the brothels of the California gold rush, Dutch Trahern worked for years to erase a childhood spent committing petty crimes and worse in order to survive. That past comes back to haunt him in the form of a woman he rescues from prostitution. Now his hard won respectability is threatened by an irresistible desire for a woman he shouldn’t want.

One Night’s Desire Blurb:

A WOMAN ON THE RUN: Rustlers, claim jumpers and fire, nothing will stop Kiera Alden from reuniting her family. But an accusation of murder threatens her dreams and sets Marshall Evrett Quinn on her trail. She may be able to escape prison bars and eventually prove her innocence, but she can’t escape Quinn’s love.

A LAWMAN IN HOT PURSUIT: Marshall Evrett Quinn is relentless in pursuit of law-breakers, and pretty Kiera Alden is no exception. Clever and courageous, she evades him until a chance encounter turns the tables. Finally he has this elusive desperado under arrest, but success is bittersweet when she captures his heart.

ABOUT RUE: Author of historical, contemporary, and erotic romances, Rue Allyn fell in love with happily ever after the day she heard her first story. She is deliriously married to her sweetheart of many years and loves to hear from readers about their favorite books and real life adventures. Learn more about Rue and her books at http://RueAllyn.com.